Official Panasonic DMR-EZ28K thread - Page 27

THIS thread may tell you. I had one of these a long time ago and had good results with it. Honestly, I don't really understand the significance widescreen flag. I don't think I've ever used any recorder/media that set/read the flag, but all my widescreen recording/playback has always turned out fine anyway.

Just an ol' Sony 32EX700. The smaller size makes everything look better. Also, I'm comparing DVD-RAM to DVD-RW, both with HDMI & 1080p upconversion. The EZ28K was fed from a QAM tuner via line inputs, and the Mag 2160A was right off the internal QAM tuner. I never did a real side-by-side comparison, but a DVD made on my Toshiba with its line inputs from an HD or SD source looked pretty good when played back on the EZ28K. 400 lines can only go so far.

It is true that the playback of a digital recording from the 515H HDD looks very good. So did one from the 2160A.

The H2080 was fuzzier and blurrier, with more ringing.

The Panny on the other hand was more like my Channel Master CM7000 CECB over s-video on the display. Obviously softer and less detailed than true HD, but still a lot "cleaner" than what I could get out of the H2080, even with constant fiddling.

I'll have to get ahold of a 515 or 513 one day and try it.

I don't know if anyone has posted this...

There seems to be new firmware for both the EZ28 and EZ48 dated 01/28/2011...

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasoni.../DMREZ28/Main/

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasoni.../DMREZ48/Main/

I have an EZ27, so I can't test it...

I bought a like-new DMR-EZ28 for $19.85, including shipping, from DealTree back in 2008. That recorder was in daily use until it died a month or so ago.

In 2010 I bought a little-used Toshiba D-R410 for $25.00 through Craig's List. That recorder is being used as the DVD player connected HDMI to the family viewing TV. Toshiba recorders are low to mid-priced products manufactured by Funai. That Toshiba model has a "satellite link" feature. (Since we don't have satellite service I'm not familiar with what that feature does.) I prefer the Magnavox recorder models, also manufactured by Funai. Magnavox recorders offer a better selection of recording modes than Toshiba recorders. Of course, no current recorders compare to the Magnavox HDD/DVD models--I have five of them.

I use my DVD recorder exclusively to record movies and TV shows that I want to archive from my DVR. About 10 days ago, I got a read error and my heart almost stopped. It turned out to be a bad disc - I've made a dozen or so good DVDs since then. But that did start me to thinking about a possible plan B for the future.

I occasionally use the 1, 2 & 4 hour presets but most DVDs are made using the flexible record function. Digado said "Magnavox recorders offer a better selection of recording modes than Toshiba recorders" - do those modes compare to the Panasonics?

I'm wondering if I'll need to bite the bullet in the future to secure a spare Panasonic or if another manufacturer might have a better/usable solution for my specific task.

Thanks for all the helpful info here.

Comparing "picture quality" is a subjective matter that one must determine on one's own.

Post-2004 Panasonics maintain full resolution out to the LP (four hour per DVD) recording mode whereas Funai manufactured recorders maintain full resolution out to the SP (two hour per DVD) recording mode. But, what constitutes "picture quality" largely depends upon the quality of the source material fed through line inputs or received through the NTSC, ATSC and clear QAM tuners. (In my opinion my Magnavox HDD/DVD recorder ATSC and clear QAM tuners are better than those in the Panasonic EZ series recorders.) With my Panasonic ES, EH, EA or EZ series recorders I generally don't use recording modes of lesser quality than LP--or close to same LP four hour program content--when using Flexible Recording.

Panasonic's EZ series recorders (from the 2007-2011 model years) are full of bugs and design flaws, especially the VHS/DVD combo recorder models. These problematic EZ series recorders have been discussed in some detail in these pages. It's best to avoid Panasonic EZ series recorders.

With my post-2006 Funai recorders I generally find very good picture quality with the SP two hour per DVD recording mode and good enough picture quality with the SPP 2.5 hour and LP three hour per DVD recording modes. These recording modes are entirely satisfactory for my use. Funai manufactured recorders do not offer a flexible recording feature.

I'm sorry when I wrote that the EZ28 had a better tuner I didn't explain it better. The PQ from the EZ28 is equal to the Mag 515H to my eyes. Same with audio. I should have explained further that I was speaking of the issues with channel numbers and signal levels, all of which have been documented in the outstanding help area of that thread.

Bugs? It took me six months to give up trying to record my digital QAM channels with the EZ28. It will record fine via line inputs from a tuner. The support people at Panasonic gave up on me too. The clock on my EZ28 drifts badly. The clock on the 515H is rock solid.

Before I discovered the Magnavox units, I would record to DVD-RAM a one hour show starting one minute early and ending one minute late: 62 minutes. At the highest bit rate, around 9.2mbs, I could add another minute or two. With the Mag you get 60 minutes with +-RW and that's the spec. The whole issue with DVD recording isn't so important with 100 hours of HQ now. That's a whole lot of DVDs.

I should clarify that my Funai manufactured Magnavox, Philips and PYE recorders offer the very useful SPP 2.5 hour and LP three hour per DVD recording modes as well as the other common recording modes (one, two, four and six hour content per DVD). Some other Funai manufactured recorders, Toshiba, Sylvania, TruTech, etc., might not offer those 2.5 and three hour per DVD recording modes. (Check recording mode specifications before purchasing Funai manufactured recorders.) One of my Toshiba recorders provides eight and ten hour per DVD recording modes, but those recording modes produce nearly unwatchable recordings.

one last question before i bury my EZ 28 , i realized I had a couple of dvds that i was recording some stuff to , I hadnt closed the disks yet .. Can the DVDs be closed on any other device or No ? i beleive not but hey ..
I order that nice magnavox 515 , nice .. cant wait to try it ....

Unfinalized DVD-R DVDs may be finalized on just about any another Panasonic newer than 2003. With DVD+R DVDs it's best to finalize with a 2006 or newer Panasonic.

If you provide your general location perhaps another nearby Panasonic owner might offer to help you.

I responded to a Panasonics owner posting on Craigslist who had about 8 unfinalized DVDs he wanted to finalize. I hooked up a ES-30v to my kitchen TV on the counter because A). I didn't want to use one of my HDD recorders and B). My other Panasonics are stacked and to hard unstack. I'm glad I did since one DVD must have had a glitch in it and soon as I inserted the DVD my drive started making loud noises. Try as I did I couldn't get the DVD out of the machine. As a last resort I tried forcing a power down with the power button, it shut down but as soon as I pushed EJECT it started the grinding again. I even tried unplugging the machine but the ES-30v apparently needs to read a disc before ejecting it, as soon as I plugged it back in the grinding would start.
My last recourse was to unplug the machine and physically take the drive apart(like is needed to clean the spindle) for the life of me I couldn't find any sort of manual eject lever on the bottom of the machine. Anyway taking the drive apart worked just fine and so did my ES-30v after hooking it back up. Needless to say we didn't try that DVD anymore and the owner just threw it away in my trash. In his posting he offered money but I declined several times, he persisted and I figured with all the trouble with the drive I finally accepted $10, he was pushing for $20 but again I figured the ES-30v was probably due for a spindle cleaning so I was able to kill 2 birds and even get paid for it
But this should be a warning for anyone else, don't use your favorite DVDR and preferably use one that's easy to access. I'm sure the DVD was damaged by his old ES-10, he said it was grinding before he stopped using it. When I asked him if he still had it he said no, he recently brought it into a recycling center probably just needed a spindle cleaning which he knew nothing about...

I have an EZ27K that I use to make DVD copies of movies or TV shows I want to archive. I've probably burned around 700 DVDs over the past 4 years. Now I'm hoping someone can tell me whether or not my recorder is dying or just in need of its first cleaning.

A couple of times, the recorder has hiccuped with a disk but using a different one fixed the problem. About a month ago, I had two disks in a row that wouldn't record, but the third one worked fine, so I chalked it up to bad disks. Last night and tonight, the machine brought up an error message I hadn't seen before, thinking the disk might be bad and asking me to press enter to restart the machine and force a check of some kind. I've tried 3 or 4 DVD blanks from the same stack as the ones mentioned above and tonight, just now, tried a different manufacturer's blanks. This one game me the same error with the addition of the 'no disc' flashing on the readout.

Any help with diagnosis is greatly appreciated.

See this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1055071/panasonic-2006-and-newer-dvd-drive-hub-spindle-cleaning-and-reassembly-complications/0_60#post_14479898

Thanks DigaDo. I tried the saliva method of spindle cleaning but still get the same error situation. I did notice that, as the machine was rebooting, a brief U61 flashed on the display. I saw that error code mentioned in the thread you indicated but didn't find any reference to what it meant. Do I need to punt on my EZ27K? Do a more thorough cleaning? Try some repairs?

This 2009 post describes the U61 error:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1007613/official-panasonic-dmr-ez28k-thread/480_60#post_17163187

Unless you've cleaned the lazer lens your recorder's problem hasn't been addressed. I would suggest that you do the more thorough cleaning described in the cleaning thread.

If the laser assembly (pick-up) has failed it wouldn't be cost effective to repair a 2007 model DMR-EZ27 as it's most likely at the end of it's useful life. I've junked several 2007 and 2008 EZ series recorders while my 2005 and 2006 ES and EH series recorders remain in daily use. (Most of my ES and EH series recorder have had heavy use.)

I would suggest moving up to a Magnavox 500 series HDD/DVD recorder. The first post in Wajo's sticky thread is the gateway to a wealth of information concerning these outstanding recorders:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/940657/magnavox-537-535-533-515-513-2160a-2160-2080-philips-3576-3575/0_60#post_12244086

Fan on Panasonic dvd recorder not working

Hi,

I'm having some trouble with my dvd recorder. The front panel is only showing zeros whenever I plug it in. I pressed on the power button until the flashing time came on. Then I pressed the eject button and the unit turned on saying Hello, but it would just stay there. Also, the tray won't open when I press the eject button. I removed the cover to see what the problem is and it appears that the fan is not working. Everything else seems to be in working order though, and so I assume that the fan is preventing the unit from functioning normally. The fan may have stopped functioning due the unit being banged a couple of times on a surface. This occurred due to some frustration that I experienced from having trouble recording on the unit when error messages began to appear. Would replacing the fan somehow make the recorder functional again, or is there something else that needs replacement?

Hoping for a reply

Tony

I have attached some images of the unit and I can't seem to identify the problem.

1.jpg 398k .jpg file
2.jpg 416k .jpg file
3.jpg 328k .jpg file
4.jpg 487k .jpg file

Seriously!?!

Tony,

I feel your pain. I own six EZ series recorders. Most are R.I.P., with only one remaing in daily use while my older heavy-use ES, EH and EA series recorders keep on working. One of my now-dead EZ recorders, purchased as a customer return back in 2007 or 2008, had a fist-sized dent in the top cover.

The problems you describe indicate that the unit is not fully powering up. The most likely cause is probaby failing or failed electrolytic capacitor(s) in the power supply. Sometimes a failed or failing capacitor will have no visual clue to the problem. For more information see this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1055111/whither-the-capacitors-in-panasonic-recorders/0_60#post_14452857

There might be other problems as well, Some of these are also mentioned in the linked post.
Edited by DigaDo - 10/9/12 at 10:52am

Hi, Digado

Thanks for your reply. The capacitor could be the problem, even though it doesn't appear to show any leakage. However, if the unit was banged twice on a wooden surface, what other damage could that have caused? The only thing that's apparently not functioning is the fan.

Tony

The fan is a very simple device. If it will spin freely with your finger or a pencil it should be OK. Perhaps the impact might have disturbed the fan's power connector. The fan's operation is controlled by the Digital PCB, the green circuit board, that has the CPU and other logic chips.

Have any of the ribbon cables been disturbed? There might be a misaligned or damaged ribbon cable contact strip.
Edited by DigaDo - 10/9/12 at 11:20pm

I forgot to mention that unit doesn't make a sound when I turn it on. Once the time is flashing, I press the power button and it says Hello, but just freezes. I press the eject button and the dvd tray won't open. The fan not working and the dvd drive not sounding seems to indicate that the problem may lie within the main circuit board. What is your opinion?

Thanks,

Tony

capacitor(s)

Thanks DigaDo. I tore the machine down and cleaned the spindle (it was pretty cruddy) and also had a pass over the laser. After putting everything back together, it appears to be successfully burning its 1st post-cleaning DVD. I'll know in a couple of hours...

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by OsrTman

I forgot to mention that unit doesn't make a sound when I turn it on. Once the time is flashing, I press the power button and it says Hello, but just freezes. I press the eject button and the dvd tray won't open. The fan not working and the dvd drive not sounding seems to indicate that the problem may lie within the main circuit board. What is your opinion?

Thanks,

Tony

Ok. Do you think that I need to replace all the capacitors or just the big one?

Tony

Hmm, could be

Originally Posted by OsrTman

The fan may have stopped functioning due the unit being banged a couple of times on a surface. This occurred due to some frustration that I experienced from having trouble recording on the unit when error messages began to appear.

Hi, Kelson

Yes, I lost really lost it and got upset with the unit. It's given me trouble several times already. I wasn't thinking clearly when it happened, but the damage is already done. Now I'm trying to find out how to fix it.

Tony

Ok. Do you think that I need to replace all the capacitors or just the big one?

Tony

Hey Digado,

I don't want to bother you, but I just need some information. If my dvd recorder is frozen on Hello, will replacing the big capacitor alone have the unit back to normal?

Thanks.

Tony

It's impossible to say for sure that it will. The best that we can say is that a bad capacitor COULD be the only reason for the problems you are having, but there are other more serious possible resons for them as well. The usual recommendation is to start with the simplest, most common, and easiest to fix solutions first.

Hello tony this is not a CAP problem, send me PM for more info........